Design can make the world a better place, for everyone.
Design is all about assumptions. Design, inherently, makes assumptions. Design can be inclusive or exclusive of the humans interacting with it. When you look at a physical product, someone (or many someones) designed it. It was designed to do something. Consider a TV remote. What assumptions does a TV remote make about the person using it? It requires the ability to read or recognize the buttons. It requires the ability to decipher shapes and iconography. It requires you to physically push buttons or a certain amount of physical manipulation to make it work. In summary – the usage of a remote requires functioning hands and eyes.
A TV remote assumes the person using it has hands and eyes. But, what if you’re a person who doesn’t have full use of one or either of these? What if you were in an accident and broke your arms? What if you were born without either arm, or with limited eyesight? Consider how this would effect your ability to interact with your TV and other things around you.
In Kat Holmes’ book Mismatch, she “tells stories of pioneers of inclusive design, many of whom were drawn to work on inclusion because of their own experiences of exclusion. A gamer and designer who depends on voice recognition shows Holmes his ‘Wall of Exclusion,’ which displays dozens of game controllers that require two hands to operate; an architect shares her firsthand knowledge of how design can fail communities, gleaned from growing up in Detroit’s housing projects; an astronomer who began to lose her eyesight adapts a technique called ‘sonification’ so she can ‘listen’ to the stars.”
John Porter is a video game enthusiast and a PhD candidate whose research lies at the intersection of accessibility and human-computer interaction. John has some physical mobility but uses a wheelchair and other assistive technologies to interact with the world. Growing up, John created a large pegboard wall of video game controllers that resembles a wall of hunting trophies. When asked why he created a “Wall of Exclusion”, he stated:
I keep these here to remind me of all the assumptions that we, as designers, make about people. The design of these products clearly signals that gaming is for some people, and not for others. A game controller says “This is for you” or “This is not for you” This is true for everything we design.
John Porter, quote from Kat Holmes’ Mismatch
The assumption for video game controllers was an obvious one: they require you to have two hands to participate. Consider the way that technology can play the accidental (or intentional) role of gatekeeping in society. We use our smartphones for everything: navigation, communication, work, finances, health, and more. As Kat says, “For better or worse, the people who design the touch points of society determine who can participate and who’s left out. Often unwittingly.”
As designers, we must be more intentional about who we include (or exclude). The technology we design and create should not prevent people from receiving proper healthcare, or from being able to communicate with others, or from being successful at their job. We can and should must do better. If you’d like to learn more about inclusive design and see the toolkits John and others have helped build, check out Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Toolkit or Kat Holmes’ Inclusive Design Toolkit.
Approximately 26% of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability. That’s roughly 61 million people. At LunarLab, we actively seek ways to make technology better. Inclusion isn’t a feel-good practice – it’s a catalyst for innovation, expansion, and growth. If you’re passionate about building better products, talk to us.
